


Yin within Yang

by cloudyTomboy



Category: Ranma 1/2
Genre: No Plot/Plotless, just ranma having a peaceful afternoon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-14 03:07:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17500406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudyTomboy/pseuds/cloudyTomboy
Summary: Ranma finds a moment of inner peace while doing a meditation on Yin and Yang





	Yin within Yang

Ranma walked into Dr. Tofu's clinic soaked to the bone. A fight with Ryouga had turned into a fight with Akane which had turned into a fall into the canal and now she was cold, wet, and smelled faintly of asphalt runoff. Dr. Tofu didn't react to her bedraggled appearance, which she found comforting. He was good at that. Bein' comforting.

"Here for that change of clothes Ranma?" the doctor inquired. "You're actually right on time; I've got a kettle on, so if you want to stay for a moment I can get you some hot water too."

"You're a lifesaver doc," she replied. "I uh," she started sheepishly, "actually, if you wouldn't mind, could you maybe take a look at my ankle? It hasn't been the same since my last tango with the old gremlin and I wouldn't know who else to ask..." She trailed off, looking down and kicking aimlessly at the floor.

Dr. Tofu gestured widely to the empty clinic. "As you can see, I'm quite busy at the moment," he chuckled, "but I think I can sneak in a short checkup for a friend."

Ranma grinned a bit as she followed him around a partition into his exam room, perching herself wetly on a padded exam table. Tofu lifted her foot, twisting the ankle into various positions and feeling how the muscles in her foot reacted.

"Well, there's nothing unusual about the injury itself. It seems like a normal strain, but I assume since you felt the need to come to me it's probably healing slower than normal. If you wouldn't mind taking off your shirt and lying on the table with your back up, I'd like to check on a few things."

Ranma complied, by now used to the ministrations of acupuncturists and traditional healers. She could feel the familiar bursts of odd sensations as Tofu prodded at various pressure points on her back, until she felt a sudden unpleasant pressure in her lower abdomen.

"Ack! What the hell was that?"

"Ah. It seems you have a minor chi blockage. I suspect your yin meridians are underutilised, which is causing your body to have trouble circulating chi to your healing ankle. I'm surprised, considering how generally well-developed your chi pathways are, but I suppose it has always been striking to me how strongly your yang energy shines through in both your forms. Stronger than Akane's!" The doctor trailed off, seeming lost in thought, but was startled from his reverie by the whistle of the kettle in the background. Tofu turned back to Ranma, "Unfortunately, I don't have a quick fix for you. Acupuncture can be used to treat this kind of imbalance, but such subtle methods are probably wasted on a chi system as strong as yours. I'll send you home with some medicine to drink, which should set you in the right direction, but this substantial of an imbalance suggests a correspondingly powerful imbalance of yin and yang in your life overall, and I think you should work on that if you want to get back to fighting shape." The doctor gave her a wry look, "I would recommend a therapist but I somehow don't think you'd accept."

Ranma mulled that over as the doctor went to fetch the kettle. She was of course familiar with the concepts of yin and yang, but she'd always considered the whole thing to be mostly a navel gazing exercise. She was nothing if not a fast learner though, and anything that could make her stronger was immediately reclassified as valuable training in her mind. If Doctor Tofu said balancing yin and yang in her life will make her heal faster and strengthen her chi, then she would hop right to it. Minus the shrink.

In the time it took Tofu to collect a jar of herbs for her and bring the hot kettle back, Ranma had shifted completely from skeptical to excited. Quickly dousing herself with the kettle and throwing on the dry clothes, he considered the task ahead of him. "How d'ya think I should go about rebalancing my life, doc? Like am I supposed to act more girly or what"

The doctor gave him a patient look before cautioning him. "Yin is associated with femininity, but that kind of thinking is overly simplistic. An energetic and bubbly young woman is expressing yang nature, even if she is undeniably feminine. Yin is the nature of waiting and accepting, of the quiet, dark, and slow. You can express your yin nature in relationships by letting others take the lead, by accepting instead of challenging them, and generally by being more passive. These things are sometimes thought of as feminine, but that sort of labeling is likely how you got into this situation in the first place." Seeing the growing scowl on Ranma's face, the doctor chuckled and added, "You don't have to start with your relationships, it might be easier to start with meditation. Maybe some qigong or taiji exercises would be more your speed for now."

* * *

Ranma knew the fundamentals of various styles of taijiquan from his travels in China. "Learn the basics of everything you can, boy! You never know what'll come in handy in a fight." It was one of the only things the old man'd taught him that he actually respected. So, he had dutifully memorized the long, flowing forms at Genma's behest. He'd listened to the teachers as they explained the martial and metaphysical lessons each form held, and he'd practiced long enough that he could pull at least the martial underpinnings of the style out without much thought. He remembered the metaphysical lessons though, remembered how to alter his breathing to transform the combat forms into moving meditations. So as he left Tofu's clinic, he knew what he needed for an appropriate place to practice.

* * *

Searching the park, Ranma shortly found what he'd been looking for. Secluded in a thicket of flowering trees, a spacious clearing of hard dirt. He set about clearing the hard dirt of fallen leaves and debris as his mind ran through the form he wanted to practice. It'd been months since he learned it in China, and he really hoped to run through it in a single go without having to pause and remember any steps.

Among the five or six taiji hand forms he'd learned, this one was unique in that it wasn't only slow. His teacher had called this the yin and yang long form, a sequence of 108 alternating sequences of slow, tranquil, old-people exercises and the kind of quick explosive bursts he usually found more use for. He'd never really thought about the form since learning it, but it felt preternaturally relevant in this moment.

Ranma took a last satisfied look at the now clean clearing, finding the best place to start and orienting himself north. The form started, like most taiji forms, with a short standing meditation. When it felt like the right time, he allowed his arms to lift and began the form in earnest. He allowed his breath to fill his body during the open movements and allowed his muscles to empty his lungs during the tight movements, a smaller cycle of in and out, yin and yang amidst the larger cycle of fast and slow movements. He considered what other cycles of his life he was experiencing at that moment. Rest and activity, a cycle which repeated many times in a given day of his hectic life. Peace and conflict. Day and night.

A movement in the form bent Ranma backwards, giving him occasion to see the dark clouds gathering above the park. Rain and sun, another cycle. Apprehension at the impending change these clouds portented washed over him, but his detached mind simply added the thought to the list of cycles. Anxiety and calm. Boy and girl.  
The rain was pleasantly warm as it fell on him, warm enough not to immediately trigger a transformation. As he entered a swift section of tight turns and a leaping kick, the air passing over him slowly cooled the water to the critical point and he felt the shift wash over her like a powerful, disorienting shiver. She took particular time and care with the following yin section, welcoming her smaller body back to herself, relishing the feeling of the new muscles bunching and stretching under her skin. Old and new. Familiarity and novelty. Distinct but inseparable.

She was nearing the end of the form now, only two climactic sequences left to step through. She could feel the warmth of exertion in her legs, and she challenged herself to take the final section extra slow, extending one foot out in a heel kick at head height over the course of 10 seconds. The anaerobic burn in her hips and thighs brought a smile to her lips and she finally relaxed into the ending position. This little detour had been a good idea, old people were really onto something with doing this every day.

* * *

Ranma entered the Tendo home feeling centered and clearheaded, and decided to try and keep that mood for as long as possible. She found Kasumi in the kitchen starting on dinner, with a kettle already warming on the stove.

Kasumi glanced up with an apologetic smile from her cutting board. "I only started the kettle when I noticed you come in, so it'll still be a bit before you can change back."

Ranma hummed thoughtfully for a moment, having not thought about her usual motivation for hot water. "I think I'm just gonna have some tea actually, but thank you for thinking of me"

Kasumi smiled at the smaller girl before turning back to her preparations. "You seem happy Ranma. You've got me in a good mood now too!

Ranma left the kitchen smiling, teapot and mug in hand. She rarely considered her role in Kasumi's life, and when she did it was usually with a pang of guilt. It was easy for her to imagine that her own chaotic circumstances were a wholly unwelcome intrusion into the older girl's peaceful life, so she found herself deeply touched at the prospect of brightening her day.

She decided to set up on the roof, where she felt relatively safe from the tensions of the world. She could see the horizon from here, as bleak as the endless Tokyo sprawl might be. Being able to see that far reminded her of how big the world was, and how small even her most outlandish problems were.

Sipping her tea, she found it not-unpleasantly bitter, with a flowery scent. Perfectly drinkable. The taste reminded her of the smell of a field after the spring rain. She thought about the woods, and about when she might go out for another training trip. She couldn't do a proper one until she got a few days off school, but maybe she could sneak in a short overnighter one weekend.

The sun was setting behind some distant hills now, and her tea was down to dregs. With a long sigh and a last look out at the peaceful city, she hopped off the roof and back into the ordinary rhythm of her life. The home had filled up sometime in her reverie, and everybody was gathered at the table as Kasumi laid out the evening meal. Nabiki and Akane were arguing about the proper ownership of some article of clothing, her old man looked like he was itching to start a fight, and Kasumi's smile was somewhat less emphatic than the last time she'd seen it. She went to the kitchen to return the teapot and cup she'd been using, and mentally prepared herself for the return to normalcy. She definitely needed that training trip.


End file.
